Review of the regional FLL Championship Event

On Saturday, January 21st our team had the opportunity to compete in the First Lego League Championship at Penn State Berks. The morning of the event,  I received panic calls from some of our parents. Sadly three of our  kids were suffering from the flu and could not make it. That put our team down to a small group of four. Heart broken for the kids who wanted to attend, but just couldn't get through a long grueling day of robotics, we pushed forward.

Penn State Berks did an amazing job of hosting this event. Our kiddos arrived  and quickly set up their poster in the pit area. The kids designed bee pins with the warning of not cutting down wild flowers to early in your lawn to hand out as flair. Coach Sue was a huge help in getting this task done with the kids.

The students were judged in robot design, project presentation, core values and of course the robot game. There was one robot game practice round on the stage before the main event.

The hardest challenge for us, was reassigning parts or roles for the missing three members. During the project presentation, our kids had to take on duel speaking parts and work to make up for the missing members. All season long, the kids had been practicing a play about wild mason bees. They had worked so hard to memorize lines etc, but when it came down to it, we just had to go with the flow. I am so proud of how they quickly adapted and did their best to do their teammates other parts.  They did a great job under the pressure, especially for a group of 11 year old boys.


The robot game was just not in the stars for us this weekend. The kids had been practicing specific runs with various teammates, but that got changed last minute. Regardless, as a coach, I feel that allowing each member to get out on the board and attempt the runs is crucial. I could have had one member do all the runs, and hope for the best score.. but that's really not what FLL is all about. I believe the all the kids built confidence and had the opportunity to feel the heat of competition.  It is always so great to see how they handle situations and for this young team, it was a huge learning experience.  This also teaches them so much about design and programming, and how it effects the robot's automated runs.


The kiddos shined in their core values activity and did a great job working together. Despite being down a few key members, the rest of the team pulled together and worked so well as a team. In fact they came home with a team work award! I can't tell the joy I felt when I saw their faces light up when their names were called.

     (Go Penn State)




I am so proud of all their hard work this season.  I will share more pictures of this event soon.
 The kids will be sharing their project with the community at the school district's science fair. 




-Stay Healthy, have fun, and keep on challenging yourself!


The CCC

PA Farm Show, Bee Research

. This year, some of our team members had the opportunity to visit the  2017 PA farm show. While there we bee-lined over to meet with the Pennsylvania State Bee Keeper organization. 

They did an hour long presentation on helping and aiding the honey bee. After the presentation we were able to ask them some of the  questions we still had our bees and help aid us in our project! The room smelled of fresh honey, and we even got to taste a sample. They do an amazing job of taking care of their hives and educating society on the importance of bees. 

We also had the chance to meet with Penn State Master Gardner, William Brennan who shared information on the dark side of pesticide use.

We ended our trip with some fresh honey waffles and honey ice cream. Researching bees is a sweet experience indeed.

Hope the rest of our team members feel better and recover soon!